Nothing to Draw From - A Devotion

John 4:9-11 (AMP)The Samaritan woman said to Him, How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan [and a] woman, for a drink?—For the Jews have nothing to do with the Samaritans—Jesus answered her, If you had only known and had recognized God’s gift and Who this is that is saying to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him [instead] and He would have given you living water. She said to Him, Sir, You have nothing to draw with [no drawing bucket] and the well is deep; how then can You provide living water? [Where do You get Your living water?]

When the Samaritan woman came upon Jesus at the well that day, she wasn’t looking for salvation. She was looking to complete the routine task of drawing water from the well and hauling it home to her family. The same thing that she did yesterday and probably the very same thing that she would do tomorrow. Life as usual with no expectation of a life-changing experience. In the midst of their conversation, Jesus tells her “if you had only known and recognized God’s Gift and Who is speaking to you, you would have asked Him and He would have given you Living Water. What’s this? Jesus showing up in the midst of daily life. Who knew? Obviously this woman did not recognize the true potential of her encounter with the Lord that day. I do believe that we are not much different today. After the Lord spoke to her, she responded, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep…” As I read these words today as if for the very first time, I understand that sometimes we as people do not understand the Word, Will or Way of God so at that moment – we have nothing to draw from. She did not know Jesus. She had never met Him before but in a brief moment of time in the course of an ordinary day just meeting Him changed her life forever.

What’s on the agenda for you today? Is it the same thing but a different day as it is for most? Regular routine, set schedule, menu planned and everything ordered kind of day just like yesterday. Is that what you are expecting? The Lord wants to expand your expectation today. He wants to empty your bucket of ordinary, mundane life and fill it with supernatural abundance just as He promised. Sometimes we must learn to empty our bucket so that we can be filled or we will have nothing to draw from. We have to identify the wells that produce living water and frequent them. I can only imagine that after the woman met Jesus at the well that day that from then on she hoped for another encounter every time she went to get water. She found living water. She went to a well that won’t run dry. Her life was changed forever as she learned the true meaning of prosperity. How deep is your well today? Do you anything to draw from?

Jeremiah 17:7-8 (AMP)[Most] blessed is the man who believes in, trusts in, and relies on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by the river; and it shall not see and fear when heat comes; but its leaf shall be green. It shall not be anxious and full of care in the year of drought, nor shall it cease yielding fruit.

Season of drought are often produced by two things – no knowledge and no vision. Hosea 4:6 tells us that people are destroyed by a lack of knowledge. Do you know the Word of the Lord for your life today? Are you living on what’s left of what you heard about the Lord yesterday, the day before, last Mother’s Day or even Christmas? The Word of God is alive. It is constantly brimming with life for God’s People. Living water will satisfy our soul but not on the outside. We must consume living water on a daily basis to produce a reservoir to draw from in our soul. Trouble is we do not have a well but a cup. We are vessels that are content with someone else’s flow rather than opening our heart and mind to allow the Lord to pour out His Spirit on us. God’s Word is like rain. It produces something in us. (Isaiah 55:10-11) Knowledge becomes wisdom when we do something with it. Wisdom is useful in our life. The Lord values wisdom in His People and encourages us to do the same. (Isaiah 55:13) It is time to taste and see that the Lord is good.

The other season of drought in our life is vision. Revelation of who God is produces vision in our life. Vision is a consequence of confident hope. Faith produces this in our life. (Hebrews 11:1) Without vision, we cannot see past the situations and circumstances of life to see His Salvation, Healing and Deliverance tomorrow. We must find the wells that produce living water and keep it flowing through our life to avoid the dry seasons and keep them from withering our faith and confident hope until we are like trees planted by streams of living water. “Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man]—blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he.” (Proverbs 29:18)

John 2:1-11 (AMP)On the third day there was a wedding at Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited with His disciples to the wedding. And when the wine was all gone, the mother of Jesus said to Him, They have no more wine! Jesus said to her, [Dear] woman, what is that to you and to Me? [What do we have in common? Leave it to Me.] My time (hour to act) has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, Whatever He says to you, do it. Now there were six water pots of stone standing there, as the Jewish custom of purification (ceremonial washing) demanded, holding twenty to thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, Fill the water pots with water. So they filled them up to the brim. Then He said to them, Draw some out now and take it to the manager of the feast [to the one presiding, the superintendent of the banquet]. So they took him some. And when the manager tasted the water just now turned into wine, not knowing where it came from—though the servants who had drawn the water knew—he called the bridegroom And said to him, Everyone else serves his best wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then he serves that which is not so good; but you have kept back the good wine until now! This, the first of His signs (miracles, wonderworks), Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory [by it He displayed His greatness and His power openly], and His disciples believed in Him [adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Him].

Preparations are in full swing for our daughter’s upcoming wedding. The other night I had a dream that it was her wedding day when I realized that I had not ordered any of the flowers. In a panic, I was completely distraught trying to find a bouquet for her to carry. My heart was racing when I finally woke up and realized it was only a terrible dream. Jesus and His Mother were attending a wedding in Cana when the wine had run out. Mary went to Jesus and said, “There is no more wine!” Then she told the servants (not taking no for answer) to do whatever He said. Jesus called for six large water pots to be filled with water. The servants did just that. He then told the servant to take it to the manager of the event to taste. When he tasted it, he told the bridegroom that most people serve the best wine first but he had saved the best for last. It’s time to inspect our pots. We must prepare a place in our life to be filled with His Spirit beginning with our heart. Mary took her problem to Jesus and left it there. She then told the men to do exactly what He said. They did and the first miracle was performed. Man, I hope Jesus comes to our wedding, too.

We must learn to draw from the right wells in our life. Our life should be a vessel presented to Jesus Christ as a conduit for miracles, signs and wonders to be produced to the Glory of God. When we decide by faith to become His Vessel, we will be filled to overflowing with Living Water and never be dry but filled with full satisfaction. This is abundant life. This is the life that Jesus Christ died for us to have. Are you ready to receive it?

Joel 2:28-32 (AMP)And afterward I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. Even upon the menservants and upon the maidservants in those days will I pour out My Spirit. And I will show signs and wonders in the heavens, and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered and saved, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the remnant [of survivors] shall be those whom the Lord calls.

The Word has been around forever. Jesus Christ then released His Spirit to activate God’s Word in our life. It is the overflow that prospers the soul. The Spirit of God is represented by an outpouring or overflow of Jesus in our life. We have the Power of the Spirit if we allow Him to fill us. “Now on the final and most important day of the Feast, Jesus stood, and He cried in a loud voice, If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink! He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] as the Scripture has said, From his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water. But He was speaking here of the Spirit, Whom those who believed (trusted, had faith) in Him were afterward to receive. For the [Holy] Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (raised to honor).” (John 8:37-39) Once we fill our life with the Word of God and invite His Spirit to come live in us, our capacity changes and true prosperity begins in our life.

Isaiah 44:3-5 (AMP)For I will pour water upon him who is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour My Spirit upon your offspring, and My blessing upon your descendants. And they shall spring up among the grass like willows or poplars by the watercourses. One will say, I am the Lord’s; and another will call himself by the name of Jacob; and another will write [even brand or tattoo] upon his hand, I am the Lord’s, and surname himself by the [honorable] name of Israel.

We have many wells to draw from as the Lord pours out Living Water in us and through us. Living Water produces a spring that rises up inside of us and overflows in our life. There is the washing from the Well of His Word. (Ephesians 5:26) We must visit the well called Salvation. (Psalm 116:12-14; Philippians 1:10-111; I Peter 2:1-3) There are blessings and benefits that flow from grace and forgiveness. (Luke 6:37-38) Jesus showed us the well called Service. (John 13:12-17) There is a well of obedience. (Malachi 3:9-10) There is a well of sacrifice. (2 Samuel 23:15-17) It is not water that we can drink but rather offered to the Lord in all that we do. Righteousness produces in our life, too. (Isaiah 45:8) In fact, God wants to shower righteousness over you. (Isaiah 45:8) There is so much to draw from God’s Word, Will and Way for our life that goes unnoticed because our wells are clogged with compromise. Sin dirties the water making it unfit to drink. Suddenly there is blessing and cursing seemingly flowing together. But anything less than God’s Very Best is compromise to His Children. (James 3:11-16) It is time to examine the overflow in our life and sample the content of our heart, mind and soul. Are we gushing out stream of living water?

Luke 6:44-46 (AMP)For each tree is known and identified by its own fruit; for figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor is a cluster of grapes picked from a bramble bush. The upright (honorable, intrinsically good) man out of the good treasure [stored] in his heart produces what is upright (honorable and intrinsically good), and the evil man out of the evil storehouse brings forth that which is depraved (wicked and intrinsically evil); for out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart his mouth speaks. Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not [practice] what I tell you?

It was a common practice at weddings to serve the best wine first banking on the fact as the guests became a bit tipsy that they would not notice the cheaper wine served at the end. However, when Jesus changed the water into wine – He changed the order of such things. Repentance leads to salvation that produces a flow of grace that washes through us removing every bit of sin that once permeated our life. We are free now to bask in Living Water and live a productive and prospering life. The Lord said that He came to give us life abundantly. We must be sure that God’s Word is the firm foundation of our life. His Son who is our Lord and Savior provides His Spirit as a means of production in us. Living water flows through us when we choose to pay close attention to what flows in our life. We must continually fill our heart and head with His Word and allow His Spirit to work it in our life. This will produce prosperity in our life. It gives us something to draw from!

Psalm 34:8-10 (AMP)O taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good! Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts and takes refuge in Him. O fear the Lord, you His saints [revere and worship Him]! For there is no want to those who truly revere and worship Him with godly fear. The young lions lack food and suffer hunger, but they who seek (inquire of and require) the Lord [by right of their need and on the authority of His Word], none of them shall lack any beneficial thing.

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Lori Thomason is a Christian author and Bible teacher from Tallahassee, Florida, where she lives with her husband and five children. She shares daily words of encouragement inspired by the Holy Spirit to deepen one's relationship with Jesus Christ and to maximize Christian living. Send Lori an email.